June, 2016 archive
When America Was “Great” 0
Jeffrey Gillespie recalls the good old days.
For the angry white male, American “greatness” conjures an era when he and his cohorts could get away with more at the expense of others: unchecked predatory sexual behavior, casual racism, easy access to opportunities denied everyone else and a “status quo” mentality preserved at the expense of millions of people who happened to not be middle-aged white guys.
Read the rest.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
. . . and another gun that fires itself.
Authorities said a gun went off inside a home of Banner Springs Circle on Thursday afternoon.
A bullet from the gun passed through the hand of one child and into the arm of another. Both children were taken to a local hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life threatening, according to Stafford sheriff’s spokeswoman MC Moncure.
Ryan’s Derp 0
Dick Polman reads between the line of Paul Ryan’s concession to Donald Trump. A snippet:
Nor Any Drop To Drink 0
Ron Littlepage stares agape at Florida Governor Rick Scott’s “environmental” policy.
Our aquifer, which has been Florida’s lifeblood for centuries, is over tapped. A big reason — over development.
(snip additional examples)
But Scott says plopping down new cities the size of Orlando in undeveloped areas is good for the environment because they produce tax dollars to help repair the environmental damage that development causes.
How’s that for circular reasoning?
Cognitive Dissonance 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Jay Richards dares to address the contrasts in the public reactions to the shooting of Harambe the gorilla and Tamir Rice, the person. He sensitively negotiates the historical stereotypes that such a comparison might evoke as he tries to understand why one evoked outrage against the authorities, whereas the other evoked support for them.
I’m not going to summarize or excerpt it. Just follow the link.
Alice Cooper Moves to Kansas 0
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School’s out for summer!
School’s out forever!
School’s been blown to pieces!
(He also has a second home in Illinois.)
Depart in Style 0
“That Does Not Compute” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Bobby Azarian suggests that AI is nothing more than an uber geek’s pipe dream. A snippet:
Feynman described the computer as “A glorified, high-class, very fast but stupid filing system,” managed by an infinitely stupid file clerk (the central processing unit) who blindly follows instructions (the software program).
If you dream of–or fear–the singularity, follow the link and read it, all the while remembering that “fast” and “smart” are not the same thing.
Facebook Frolics 0
After 30 years of internet and two decades of Fox News, persons still haven’t figured out that, even though they saw it on a screen in glorious electrons, it ain’t necessarily so.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
A little better.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, decreased to 276,750 from 278,500 in the prior week. Filings have been below 300,000 for 65 consecutive weeks — the longest stretch since 1973 and a level economists say is typically consistent with a healthy labor market.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits increased by 12,000 to 2.17 million in the week ended May 21.